Rocky Debuts Three New Bikes; Shows Fresh Commitment to 29er Category

Rocky Mountain presents an alloy version of its 120mm trail/XC Element MSL, but the real news from the Canadian bike maker is a BIG commitment to 29ers: Witness a first-ever Element 29 and a race hardtail program that nixes 26" wheels altogether.

There has been a lot of industry buzz lately about how strong 29er sales are growing steadily in the face of relatively flat 26-inch bike numbers. While much of that growth is in the entry-level and carbon hardtail categories, more 29er full suspension bikes come out every year. It seems Europe is finally catching on, and with longtime 29er holdout Rocky Mountain throwing its weight behind the big wheel trend, the dam may have officially broken. Two of the three new bikes just launched by Rocky sport 29-inch wheels—and there are clearly more bikes on the way. Expect these three new bikes to start showing up at shops in time for Christmas.

/// ELEMENT 26" ///

A quick primer for anyone who missed Rocky's Element redesign for the current season: The longstanding Rocky full-suspension cross-country model got a carbon fiber makeover for 2011 and received most of the latest frame features serious buyers are looking for such as a tapered headtube, a press fit BB92 bottom bracket and stiff, swoopy full-carbon construction.

Recognizing that "XC" means different things to differnt riders, the carbon Element is offered in two versions built off the exact same frame. Through the clever use of a interchangeable link and a slightly different shock, one redesign yielded two bikes: the 120mm MSL and the 98mm RSL.

MSL and RSL stand for Marathon Super Light and Race Super Light, but it's easier to just think of them as Trail and XC variants of the same basic platform, with the MSL/Trail model getting slacker geometry (69.5 HTA vs. 70.5) and a higher bottom bracket than its steeper/lower more race-oriented sibling.

Now the news: Rocky is now offering its trail-focused 120mm Element MSL in an alloy frame, with three models that will retail from $1,900 to $3,000, and weight from 26.5 to 29.7lbs, complete. Although a 95mm alloy Element will not be produced, it will be possible to swap out links and a shock

While it's logical to expect to see a lower-priced alloy version of a hot new carbon frame roll out in the subsequent season, the addition of a whole new 95mm travel model built around a 29-inch wheel was a surprise development.

In producing the bike, Rocky marketing manager Pete Roggeman says the company took great care to make sure they came out with a 29er that lived up to the quick-handling 26" trail bikes Rocky Customers have come to expect. To accomplish this the Element 29" platform sports a slack-ish head tube angle at 70.6 degrees, a shorter top tube (23.8 for a 18.5" frame) and respectably short 17.5-inch chainstays to keep the wheelbase manageable. The company calls this tightened-ip geometry (a variant of which is found on the Vertex 29er, below) RTC, for Race Tuned Compact. Rocky also smartly specs 142 x 12mm rear drop-outs to shore up rear-end stiffness on the Element 29".

Rocky claims its Element 29ers, like this top-shelf alloy-frame offering, retain the flick-ability of a 26&quot; wheel bike with all the benefits of big wheels.

Why didn't Rocky unveil a carbon Element 29 at the same time they debuted the 26" Element platform last year?

"When we developed the RSL and MSL, we were pretty committed to 26 at that point. We knew 29 was coming on strong, but we didn't realize at the outset just how strong it was," says Rocky marketing manager Pete Roggeman. "By the time we did this new alloy version, we decided at the beginning to design a 29er as well."

Once the heavy lifting has been done and all the number crunching that goes into laying out a new bike is complete, transferring the design to carbon fiber is a fairly straightforward step, says Roggerman. "It's really just a matter of nailing the layup and making some small tweaks."

It's logical to assume that we'll be seeing expect to see a carbon version of the Element 29er at or before this time next year.

/// VERTEX RSL

Notice there is no "29" designator in the 2012 Vertex RSL model name—that's because Rocky is adopting a 29er only approach to its hardtail XC race program. When it comes to race hardtails, Rocky is officially lumping 26" wheels in with elastomer suspension, rim brakes and lugged frames.

The Vertex RSL replaces the 26&quot; frame at the top of Rocky&#039;s race hardtail lineup. The $1,900 frame is available as a frame-kit only, or in two builds priced at $5,550 and $3,850, respectively.

The new Vertex is the company's first production carbon hardtail 29er, and after learning a few lessons from its token alloy 29er Vertex, Rocky claims the carbon version is dialed. Geometry-wise the new Vertex gets the "RTC" treatment: the bottom bracket has been raised 9 millimeters, its chainstays have been shortened by a full centimeter to 17.2 inches, and the head tube angle has been tightened up from 72 to 70.25 degrees, when compared to the current alloy Vertex 29er.

For a company that didn't launch its first 29er until 2010, Rocky is going whole-hog into the category. One clear benefit of waiting so long to jump in is being able to learn from other manufacturer's mistakes (GT Peace One, looking at you) and successes (ie: Specialized's entire 29er lineup). For as good as they look on paper, we'll have to wait for real-world feedback on the new models, we do have this fairly compelling video (link below) of the new alloy Element 26" and Element 29" both being absolutely railed down Squamish's "Value Added"—a double-black-diamond rated trail that likely doesn't see a lot of 120mm XC bike traffic, let alone 95mm travel 29ers.